Craft notes for animators: a perspective on a 21st century career

If Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs represented the animation industry's infancy, Ed Hooks thinks that the current production line of big-budget features is its artistically awkward adolescence.

While a well-funded marketing machine can conceal structural flaws, uneven performances and superfluous characters, the importance of crafted storytelling will only grow in importance as animation becomes a broader, more accessible art form.

This text analyses specific films - including Frozen and Despicable Me - to explain the secrets of creating truthful stories and believable characters.